Dairy cooperatives though being a remarkable success story in India are not without its share of problems and constraints related to Governance, Professionalization, Member Engagement. Renowned cooperative leaders, professionals, academicians, policy makers and other stakeholders of the dairy cooperative sector deliberated on these issues.

In his keynote address, Dr Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman, Niti Aayog said that the economic reality has changed since Amul model started in 1947. There is a need to introspect about the cooperative movement amidst changing conditions. According to Dr Kumar, along with professionalization, the human commitment towards national cause requires special attention. Cooperatives should become accountable and fragmented farmers should congregate to enhance the competitive advantages of cooperatives as business enterprises. Dairy cooperatives need to be equipped with latest technology, in-built mechanism for robust governance, superior business model and transparent operating systems.

Dr Kumar said that all of us are conscious that our dairy cooperatives are ineffective in many parts of the country, making them incapable to serve the interests of small milk producers. But it is possible to rejuvenate them by bringing about the required reforms and restructuring of these institutions. Cooperatives are expected to be as efficient as their counterparts in private sector to better serve the interests of their member producers. He hoped that the conclave would come up with a road map to bring resurgence in the cooperative movement.

Shri Dilip Rath, Chairman, NDDB conveyed that India has a vast network of over 1,87,000 village dairy cooperatives. Unfortunately, the success of dairy cooperatives has not been uniform across the country. The percentage of village coverage in major dairying states varies from as low as 13% in Jharkhand to close to 100% in Gujarat. At all India level, the reach of dairy cooperatives is limited to 60% of the dairy potential villages. Now is the right time to give another big push to the milk sector by launching a sequel to the National Dairy Plan Phase-I, which closes this year, spearheaded by NDDB.

Chairman, NDDB said that there is a need to strengthen the local level cooperatives serving the target uncovered villages through a combination of legal and regulatory reforms, policy support and allow them functional autonomy. A focussed funding programme is necessary – ideally funded by World Bank – as a sequel to NDP-I to support this intervention by setting up village level infrastructure, training, capacity building along with provision of productivity enhancement services. In those areas where the cooperative strategy is not feasible, we need to promote producer companies. In all the future interventions to expand market access & coverage, only women members of the milk producing households should get enlisted in the cooperatives, along with their complete financial inclusion, which would bring about multi-dimensional social and economic change in rural areas.

The conclave participants discussed importance of dairying with respect to its role in providing livelihood and promoting inclusive development in rural India. The rationale behind choosing cooperatives as a preferred form of enterprise was highlighted. Growth and achievements of cooperative dairying were deliberated. Various issues which act as efficiency inhibitors in growth of dairy cooperatives were also defined. All the participants firmly believed that dairy cooperatives amongst all other forms of organisations are the best suited to ensure sustainable and inclusive growth.